EDITOR WES RAYNAL: I wish Porsche made a grand touring coupe, like perhaps the 928 was or the Panamera would be if it came in a coupe. A car that's more luxurious and bigger that could take on, say, the Mercedes-Benz CL-class. Porsche 911 purists would argue this car is getting to be that. It's true that it's a bigger car inside and out but as much as this latest 911 is changed, the shape is still unmistakably 911; though to my eye it looks a lot wider, especially in the front end.

Climb aboard and one notices it's bigger inside by quite a margin. In fact four of us—me and three kids aged 15-23 ranging in height from 5'6” to 6'1”—did short stints. It wasn't S-class comfortable, but doable. Quality levels seem up and materials better. The dash/center console looks straight from the Panamera (with a lot fewer buttons and switches). So, if you like that, you'll like this.

The steering feels too light at first and at low speed. Firms up nicely at speed but some of the 911 feel—some of the delicacy or maybe the word I'm looking for is tactility—is gone now. Some people might not like that. I thought the car still felt plenty light on its feet and like it was ready to spring out of a crouch at any minute.

The engine feels great and sounds different now, slightly more refined I guess—though at times it pops and crackles, which I thought was cool. The ride (suspension set in normal) is fine, never harsh, though over some road imperfections this particular car had a rather nasty rattle coming from the passenger door. That'd be a bummer if it were my $100k. Oh, another thing that annoyed me: This car has auto shutoff. When you sit at a light in neutral with the clutch out, the engine shuts off. Push in the clutch and it starts up. Two things: It's not a smooth system but rather quite intrusive, and twice it wouldn't fire when I pushed in the clutch. I had to re-twist the key.

It's bigger and a little softer but mostly it still feels like a 911 to me, which is a good thing for many buyers. To me personally? Maybe I'm getting old: Climbing in and out of this car is a chore; the cockpit, though bigger, feels small and tight to me (and I've actually lost weight lately), and I don't know, driving it feels like a chore to me, not a joy. That will be blasphemous to the Porsche slappies out there, but there you have it.

Like I said, wished Porsche made a GT car.

DIGITAL EDITOR ANDREW STOY: I'm in the rather odd position of having experienced very few different 911 models. For better or worse, my only real benchmark for the new 991 Carrera comes from driving my own 911SC. Is the steering as direct as the manual rack-and-pinion in my '81? Nope. The extra pounds are apparent as well on the new model.

But otherwise, this 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera feels like a direct descendent of my old Targa. Powerful but not overpowered, stiff-riding without beating the crap out of the occupants, and with that same glorious mechanical connection I've come to love. I know the car has grown, but the cockpit actually feels smaller due to the lower seating position and higher console/dash. I also dislike the fact that the pedals are hinged from above instead of rising from the floor, and that I can't see any hint of an engine if I pop the back cover.

It's there, though: Dive into the flat six, make it howl through the entire powerband through all seven perfectly placed ratios on the manual gearbox, and all is right with the world. The 911's soul is alive and well.

Purists can scoff, but I like my daily driver to have cold air conditioning, hot heat and a resistance to ending up backward in the weeds if it's overcooked in a sweeping bender. Raw driving is what my 30 year-old Porsche is for.

The words of auto writer Paul Duchene, upon driving his first 911, come to mind: “Now I get it; this is really all you need in a car.” Duchene was referring to an '80s-vintage Carrera, but his comments are just as easily applied to the shiny new 991 sitting at your local Porsche dealership.

SENIOR ONLINE EDITOR RORY CARROLL: To be very clear, this new 911 is a very good car. It's fast, comfortable, efficient and good looking. It's lighter than the one it replaces despite being larger in every exterior dimension. The weight loss is a good thing, and I suspect we'll see other automakers looking to add lightness to new models to aid with fuel economy now that they've exhausted just about every other strategy.

That said, visually, the car looks enormous. Like London's Battersea Power Station, it seems inconceivably large, as if it were an optical illusion. When parked next to my 1984 Carrera, the new car looked like a bright yellow Hindenburg. As long as you only park it next to gigantic cars, it looks pretty good, except the wheels. You'd need to park it next to a donk to make those dubs look reasonably sized.

However, all that new girth adds up to a cabin that is tiny, and far less useful than those of previous 911s. The original design mandate of “two adults, two kids and two golf bags” seems to have been replaced with “two adults and two golf balls.''

Getting into the car is like stepping into a TARDIS, only in reverse. So big on the outside, yet so small inside! How do they do it?

I didn't get to take the car to the track, but the traction control/stability control made damned sure I wasn't going to have any fun driving on public roads, which is probably for the best.

The shifter is really nice and the engine provided adequate power. Judging just by the sound the car makes at speed, with the windows up, I could have been convinced that this new 911 was a silent EV, and that a 997 generation 911 was driving somewhere nearby. If there is one thing to change, it's that stupid tube that is supposed to sanitize the engine noise and pipe it into the passenger compartment. It is the honest-to-goodness worst feature I have every experienced in a car, and I own a Lada. Just rip some of the sound deadening out of the firewall instead of inventing a new woodwind instrument.

Maybe if the engine had been audible, I wouldn't have heard something in the passenger door rattling every time the car went over a bump. In a rawer, more engaging car, this would have been forgivable. But, since Porsche seems to have placed all their eggs in a leather-lined luxury basket, it's annoying. For $100,000-plus, I'd want more engine noise, and less 1988 Hyundai Excel noise—but, I'm sure the Porsche dealer would be all too eager to take a stab at fixing it for you. And by fixing it, I mean stuffing a small piece of foam in the area of the rattle.

As potential sports-car buyers have grown up, the 911 and most other sports cars have followed them, getting softer and more comfortable. I'd like to think that Porsche and its competitors aren't leaving behind young enthusiasts who may not be rich enough to buy (or more likely lease) a 911 at the moment, but may be in a position to buy one down the road. I'd really like to think that.

While this 911 and many other modern sports cars are undoubtedly very good, I'd hope that Porsche will remember that even the old and rich among us once bought sports cars—at least in part—because sports cars helped them connect with a younger, more vital version of themselves.

On paper, the 991 looked a lot like sacrilege to me. In person, it's a car that has me looking forward to the harder-edged 991s that are sure to be waiting just over the horizon. Let's hope that Porsche sees those next 991s as a way to connect with a younger more vital version of Porsche.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR ROGER HART: There has certainly been a lot of Sturm und Drang about the new 911, and I slid in behind the wheel with a lot of anticipation. I was a big fan of the previous-gen car, and well, this is a 911. It needs to be great.

And what I found, I really liked. OK, the car is bigger and it's noticeably bigger. Lots of seat travel for more legroom, and while I was alone in the car the whole time, it feels like a lot more shoulder room as well. And as far as a comfortable sports car, well, this is certainly comfortable. With the adjustable suspension, dial in just how much you want to shake your bones and head on out.

The console, as Wes noted, is a smaller version found in the Panamera and Cayenne, featuring far fewer buttons—which is nice. And about the automatic stop/start, there's a switch that you can turn it off if you don't want to save fuel. Like nearly every Porsche I've ever driven, the clutch takeup is perfect, right where it needs to be, and the precision of the seven-speed manual shifter is also spot-on. It's a joy to run up and down through the gears.

The boxer six is a beauty, pulling strongly from down low and with the sport button switched on, it sounds terrific. The powerband is wide and long, and I found myself dipping into it often, just to hear the exhaust note.

And now to the much-derided steering. It's very light at low speeds, but does seem to firm up the faster you go. And really, I had no problems, and no complaints. Does it feel like you have a direct link to the front wheels? Maybe not as close as a couple of gens ago, but pretty damn near.

The 911 has grown up and gotten a little more civilized with age. Isn't that what we are all supposed to do?

ROAD TEST EDITOR JONATHAN WONG: I didn't walk away with the best feelings after sampling a 2012 Carrera S with the PDK transmission earlier this year. Something just seemed off to me about the car after spending a boatload of time in “997” versions of the 911 over the years. As many people have mentioned, the 991 is bigger and features a more luxurious cabin, which is typical for new models. With every generation of a vehicle, they almost always getting a bit bigger and plusher, because those are things that regular consumers consider improvements.

However, from a driving standpoint, I was a lot more troubled. The electric power steering bothered me for its lack of feedback and dead-spot on center when communicative steering has in the past been one of the 911's strong suits. And while the ZF-built dual-clutch sequential manual gearbox is better than ever, it's still nowhere as involving as an old fashion manual gearbox.

But with this base Carrera test car that has new seven-speed manual transmission, the new car finally began to speak to me. As I worked through the seven cogs over the weekend, some of the shortcomings that bugged me in the Carrera S with the PDK weren't as apparent. Maybe it was because I was busy matching revs and concentrating on getting into the correct gears, but I felt some of the behind-the-wheel excitement that was always present in the 997.

Without question, the 991 is a capable performer with massive grip available for lateral maneuvers thanks in part to the 20-inch Pirelli rubber at the corners. Placing the car where you want it is a cinch, but again the steering still has the numb on-center feel that does tighten up when you add more angle, as Roger points out. The body stays nearly flat, side-to-side weight transitions are easily handled and there's little dive under braking.

Though I will say the biggest improvement to the 991 is the ride quality. Being able to handle bumps and potholes as well as this car can on 20-inch tires is nothing short of impressive.

So thank you, manual gearbox, for helping me enjoy the 991 a little bit more than I have previously. I was able to really appreciate the boxer six-cylinder's stellar throttle response, power and exhaust note a bit more. Yes, the decreased communication from the steering wheel is still a downer, but it's something we'll just have to live with. Strangely, the electric steering in the new Boxster feels better. No matter, now I just need to get into a Carrera S with three pedals to see if I can begin to like the newest generation 911 even more.